Jim Boeheim strikes a familiar pose, arguing with an official during a recent game. Boeheim has yelled and stomped his way to 903 victories, second on the all-time list behind friend Mike Krzyzewski.

Written by

Eric Prisbell
Gannett

On the afternoon the Big East broke apart, Jim Boeheim sat at his desk and witnessed the 34-year-old league he watched become part of the fabric of college basketball reduced to tatters.

Boeheim, 68, was there at the Big East's birth, dragged kicking and screaming, he says, into the league by former commissioner Dave Gavitt. He looms as a symbol of what the game was and whatever the game is becoming in this age of perpetual conference realignment.

"A sad day," says Boeheim, who moved past Bob Knight into second place on the all-time Division I men's basketball wins list after Syracuse beat ...